The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-03-03
ON THE ICE.
Scenes in Mid Winter at Niagara-A
Thrilling Adventure In
the Rapids

When, IN the spring, ana sometimes
during protracted thaw IN the depth
Of winter, the vast fields Of ice that
border the shores of the great upper
lakes are detached from their moorings
and set in motion by the currents that
set toward the sea- the great gorge OF
dhe Niagara, below the falls, presents a
spectacle unsurpassed among icy won
wonders. | say unsurpassed, because
credible witnesses have said that not
even the mighty glaciers of Switzerland
show more striking examples OF nat
aral power.
Huge cakes OF ice come tumbling
over the cataract in such enormous
quantities that after the movement has
continued for week the whole bed OF
ahe river below seems filled with them.
The process is often aided by strong
northerly wind at the mouth Of the
river, which sets back the ice, and lit
orally piles it into the wide, deep chan
mel. 1t is difficult TO convey to those
unfamiliar with the locality an ade-
suate idea of the sight.
i
fourteen miles in length, sometimes
pent between lofty banks, the water
carrying from eighty to two hundred
feet in depth, sometimes raging in a
narrow channel, and then spread out in
q tranquil flow with a width of half
mile-think of such a stream or strait
rs this, so burdened by the ice that has
been poured into it, that only in occa-
sional places is the water visible at all!
Sometimes the process OF freezing COM
pacts it; but more often this wonderful
exhibition is seen in comparatively
mild winter weather, For it must be
cemembered that so deep and rapid a
torrent as this is beyond the direct ac-
sion of the frost; nothing could bridge
il with ice from shore TO shore but the
filling of the channel with the enormous
winter accumulations of the upper
takes.
The rigors of the season may some.
what diminish the flow of water; yet in
all seasons the almost Unreasonable
food of Niagara is there, and it must
find outlet. You may climb over huge
ice-hills and pick your way among ice
powders out to the middle of the
stream, where you can look down into
some wide crevice and see the water
thirty feet below, struggling with its
incumbrance.
Sounds of cracking and grinding con-
tinually are heard; the impatient waters
are fighting with their bonds, and the
great mass is slowly, imperceptbly be-
ing carried into Lake Ontarlo-while
pedestrians, and even double sleighs,
are safely crossing over it. Meanwhile
As the great blocks come dashlng over
the falls much faster than they can find
exit below, the surface of the river.
which is now the rough and irregular
bed of ice, rises and encroaches upon
the banks. In some seasons this rise
has been as high as sixty feet. There
Is seen such an exhibition OF the
power of the forces of nature rs per-
haps cannot be witnessed elsewhere.
In Switzerland, for example. the ma
iestic glaciers creep along their ancient
beds with march that IS irresistible;
but neither man nor nature has placed
any impeachment in their coure to prove
them irresistible. But on the banks of
the lower Niagara. ! have seen the
wharves crumble like egg-shells before
the pressure of the great ice-hills;
have seen large houses and store
houses, built so high above the water
line that no danger was dreamed OF,
torn from their foundations and borne
of among the ice-hills, and | have seen
tall oak trees, two feet IN diameter,
snapped of like pipe stems, and even
torn up bv the roots. by the slow, inn
eerceptible. and vet irresistible press
ure of this American glacier.
Almost any winter, beyond where the
huge round ice mountain rises well to-
ward the brink of the American fall,
put in the middle Of the wide channel
where in other seasons the waters toss
and swell from depth of two hundred
feet, you may see great ice-hummocks,
decorated with the flags of both ma
tions. You may 60 out there by a
well-defned and safe path. through
valleys and over hills Of ice-always
ice; il hungry. you may buy refresh
ments there from a pine-board booth,
where you will see cook-stove; and if
Tery ambitious of unusual experiences,
you may actually have your photograph
taken on the ice, in front of the
cataract
In this tremendors winter aspect of
Niagara, ii might be expected that acct
dents and perilous adventures would
happen. | will relate the most re-
narkable that occurs to TO me.
In the month of December many
years ago, an American whom we may
call Clarke was engaged in buying and
shopping timber in the Canadian woods.
~ 9 (,hinno.va which i twO miles